Starbucks and Letterman
by tallym4rk
Summary: It's their senior year, and John wants to make this the best he can. His average grades skyrocketed to an Honor Roll student, and as captain of the basketball team, he sets his goal higher to win the city playoffs. But there's one more thing John wants to do before he graduates in May: he wants to know the lone wolf in his history class, Linda. [Halo AU obviously. T for safety]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**0740 hours, 20 October 2529 (Standard Calendar) / Library of Nova High School**

Kelly's fingers were a blur as they tapped across the keyboard of the laptop, typing the final paragraph of their explanation paper. She paused after the last period, and looked at John and Sam. "Okay, how does this sound?"

John and Sam leaned over both sides of Kelly's shoulders. Their eyes scan the paper from beginning to end. It sounded pretty good, and that paper was barely ten percent of the grade. They both nodded their heads in approval. Kelly nodded her head once before dragging the document to the blue flash drive, and sat comfortably in the wooden chair.

"It should take about five minutes," she said, annoyed at the slow connections at school.

"Hey, it's done," Sam noted positively.

She shrugged, then glanced at the time on the computer. 7:41. She cursed under her breath and jumped out of her seat, grabbing her backpack and duffel bag. "I'll see you two in History," she said quickly, and dashed out of the library.

"Bye," the boys said, shocked at the speed she took to leave. Then John snapped his fingers, "Track practice."

Sam's eyebrow rose with confusion, "How do you practice for _track_?" He grinned when he saw John roll his eyes. "Speaking of practice, how's basketball?"

"I think we'll win district at least," John said, tucking his hands into his blue letterman and shrugged, "Maybe even city."

"I'll go to every game and be your biggest fangirl," Sam replies with a wink. John chuckles. "So the basketball camp paid off?"

John paused. He cringed internally; he preferred "training" over "camp", but he knew what Sam was talking about. "Yeah," he replied.

A notification popped up in a rectangle box on the computer screen. They both turned their heads, and Sam hits "Enter" before pulling out the blue flash drive and putting it in his pocket. Sam grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulders, and waved at John, "See you later, gator."

John waved back before Sam spun on his wheel and strolled through the glass door. He sat down in the chair Kelly sat and saw the time. 7:52. He now has eight minutes to get to class. He logged Kelly off the laptop, grabbed his backpack, and head for the glass doors as well. Just before he turned to his side to push it open, he saw a familiar bright red.

Linda pushed through the enter door of the library and dashed towards the nearest computer. John backpedaled to see her rush. The librarian called out for her to sign in, but she ignored the librarian. Linda didn't even look down at the keyboard as her shaky hands fumbled across the keyboard. John walked back around the librarian's desk and scribbled "Linda Pravdin" for her. He turned and saw her, leaning on the table and tapping her right foot. She looked like she was mumbling to herself as she glanced from the screen to the bottom corner where the time should be.

"Hey, Linda," he greeted after he walked towards her. She didn't even flinch to acknowledge his presence, she just kept tapping her foot. He glanced at the page filled with words on the screen as she clicked rapidly through several pop ups. He leaned away from the screen, as if he never saw anything. "I'll wait with you so you're not the only one late."

"Thanks," she mumbled. Her green eyes glanced at his, then back on the computer. "But you don't have to." Then she walked past him; he could feel a gust from the speed of her walk. He saw her pulling a page from the printer; she sighed when she found it blank. But the printer roared again and spat another page out, again blank. Her finger pinched the bridge of her nose.

John immediately turned to her computer and pressed the "Print" icon. Several pop ups covered the screen, which he rapidly clicked out of until he confirmed the printing settings.

Linda looked at the printer again, and a third page spat out. She picked it up and found her explanation paper. She sighed out of relief and walked back to the computer she used; she found the log-in screen and was confused.

John saw her pause for a split second before she grabbed her backpack and walk out the entrance glass door. "You're welcome," he called just before the door closed.

"It's 7:58," the librarian announced, not even lifting her eyes off the thin tablet that illuminated her face. "If you don't run, you'll be late to class."

* * *

**Edits: Stanbrook is changed to Nova (the official name is Nova Academy for Virtuous Youths)**

**Disclaimers: Don't own Halo.** I only own my OCs (here, it's the librarian)

**AN:** Please let me know if anyone is obviously out of character and what you thought.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Have a great day/evening


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**1316 hours, 20 October 2529 (Standard Calendar) / Room 16H**

Five rows and four columns of desks are perfectly spaced apart, and filled with students all the way up to the back right desk, which was always empty. Students turned their bodies to gather in small groups rather than turn desks. Sam, Kelly, and John, however, sat in a straight horizontal line in the first row. Sam and John both turned in to face Kelly and the friend across Kelly. They both peered over her shoulders to see what Kelly was typing on Sam's laptop; it looked like final flares on the paper.

"Kelly, we already finished the paper this morning," Sam reminded.

"Yeah, but," she countered, " we forgot to answer the prompt." She was glancing from the keyboard to the screen. Miraculously, it was still a page long. Her hands relaxed and Kelly took a deep breath of relief, "At least Dr. Martinez doesn't care if it's printed or not."

Sam slapped his hand on her back, "This is why you're in our group." Kelly paused, turned her head towards Sam, and gave him a monotone stare before turning back to his laptop and ejected the flash drive.

"Now we're officially done with the project," Kelly announced, shutting off the laptop and pushing it towards Sam, who put the closed laptop back in his zip up case. "At least we finished before Dr. Martinez walked in."

And, speak of the devil, Dr. Martinez opens the door and quickly walks to his desk. He has an armful of papers in manila folders in one arm with a travel mug with thin wisps of steam in the other hand. He nearly dumped everything on his desk before sighing out of relief. He turned to his class, excused his tardiness, and scanned the room for empty desks; there was only one as usual.

The room quickly silenced as Dr. Martinez sat on his spinny chair and typed on the keyboard. Whispers quietly erupted as he did. The front-row-trio glanced at each other, then back at Dr. Martinez, who stood up, leaned over his desk with his mouse at hand, and finally stood up straight for his class. The chattering died out again.

"You can drop your projects off in the tray," he nodded to a black tray on the far wall labelled "5H". "And pull out the note sheets, if you printed them. I'll try to make this lecture quick."

Chatter on projects arose when about a fourth of the class stood. About two people actually turned in their projects right away, including Kelly, and the rest of the class double checked with their group to make sure everything was complete. One by one, the project leaders dropped in a stack of papers or a flash drive.

Dr. Martinez grabbed his stylus and tapped the board until a red background with white letters popped up; "League of Nations" his students read, but none of them looked like they understood what it meant.

"Is that what the UNSC called themselves before?" a student asked.

Dr. Martinez looked up at the ceiling for a moment, not out of sympathy of his idiocy but out of wording. "You _could _call it that …" Then he looked back at his students. "But I personally wouldn't. Would anyone like to humor me as to why?"

He could hear crickets in the background. Then a pale student raised her hand. His eyebrows rose with shock and eagerness. "Linda," he called and the class turned their heads to face her.

"The League of Nations was formed after World War One -"

"Why?" he interrupted, tapping his pen on his mouth.

"To prevent a country like Germany to become a threat." She blinked before continuing. "To force Germany to pay reparations.

Dr. Martinez chuckled to himself; he personally would've said something else, but that was for his college students. "You're one step ahead of my slide, Ms. Pravdin."

He tapped the slide without turning his body and more white words popped out. "To have a unified entity to prevent another rising country to threaten others." He saw his students drop their heads to scribble down the words, but he immediately went to the next slide. When his students heard his stylus tapped again, they looked frustrated that they didn't have enough time to write everything, then their mouths dropped with shock when they read the next slide:

_**&amp; %%$&amp;!#**_

He chuckled again, "You can add this to your notes." He grinned at the few who actually did. He tapped his stylus on the board again, this time it read: United Nations. "Now, this is what the UNSC called themselves before. Can anyone tell me which side the United Nations was on during the 20th and 21st Centuries?"

He heard the crickets again. Then one of the front row trio raised his hand, "John."

"Neither, they were neutral," he answered.

Dr. Martinez smirked, and wished this was his college class. He gulped his smirk and replied, "On paper, yes."

And immediately moved onto the next slide. Twenty minutes of nearly (he paused for about five seconds to sip his steaming coffee) nonstop lecture on the differences of the three entities passed, and there was about fifteen minutes left of class. The students were silent and a little suspicious, but this time, Dr. Martinez had nothing up his sleeve.

"I told you this would be short," he said, seeing their skeptical faces. "I have one paper to assign to you." The class groaned and sighed; Dr. Martinez mocked them, straightened his face, and continued, "It's short …" He checked the time on his watch. " … In fact, you might get a head start during the last few minutes. I introduced the three unifying entities. You must pick one and write a paper on that one. I want a brief history and two major events during those times and their significance. Then write your opinion." The class pulled out devices to research, tuning him out at this point. "I advise you avoid the UNSC, since most of you will pick it anyway. I'll be harsher on that one if more than half the class writes about it. I'll accept pair works, but no more than groups of two." He glanced at the front-row-trio before sitting back at his desk. "This paper is due Wednesday."

"Damn," Sam hissed under his breath. He leaned towards Kelly and whispered, "I think he's doing it on purpose."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "I think he knows that _I_ do most of the work."

John admitted it to himself. He also knew that Sam does the least work, and Kelly does the most, so they should go together. He leaned in as well, "You two can work together -" They both jerked their heads towards him, "- I'll just do this by myself."

"You sure?" Sam asked, but he was actually thankful John offered to work by himself.

John nodded. Then he turned and saw the redhead female hunched over a small device that illuminated onto her face. A part of him wanted to go over there and see if she would work with him on the paper, but another part of him felt like she wouldn't. The latter lost to the first part, and he got up and slide into the empty desk behind her.

* * *

**Disclaimers: Don't own Halo.** I only own my OCs (here, it's Dr. Martinez)

**AN:** Please let me know if anyone is obviously out of character and what you thought.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Have a great day/evening


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**1350 hours, 20 October 2529 (Standard Calendar) / Room 16H**

John tapped Linda's back. She pulled an earphone out and spun in her seat to face him. He grinned at her, "Hey, do you want to work together on the paper?"

Linda glanced at the floor, then back at her device. Finally, she shrugged and faced him, "Sure."

John winced, the one word response wasn't what he expected. He blinked before continuing, "Uh. So which were you researching?"

Linda's green eyes widened, then blinked, and quickly responded, "United Nations."

"Why not the UNSC?" He personally wanted to do the UNSC.

Linda looked at him emotionlessly with her head tilted slightly, glanced at the history teacher, then back at John, "Because he just said he'd rather us do a paper on the other two..?"

John nodded his head slowly; he still wanted to do the paper on the UNSC, but he guessed that this would be a more beneficial to him, since he doesn't know about the United Nations as much as the UNSC. He felt awkward the silence between them, "Do you want to start working on it after school?"

"I have a job to go to after school," Linda replied, putting away her notes and her small device.

"Well, when don't you work?"

"This week," she replied with one eye closed, trying to remember her schedule. Then her face relaxed. "We can work Monday after school."

"Alright, Monday after school," John repeated with a grin; Linda didn't respond. She sat at her desk, the other earphone in her ear again. John observed her, thinking about how they were acquaintances for about twelve years and they only knew their names. The thought made this situation at least a thousand times more awkward.

The class gathered their stuff and shoved it in their backpacks at two minutes until the school day ended. John stood up and moved back to his seat next to Kelly; her and Sam looked lost in their own little world.

"John!" Sam said when he saw John was back in the front-row-trio, "Are you working with Linda?" Sam asked when John pulled up his backpack onto his desk.

"Yeah," he said, putting in his note sheet, zipping up his backpack, and looks up at Sam, "Why?"

Sam and Kelly glanced and shrugged at each other before looking back at John; Sam continued, "She's not exactly the social type."

The dismissal bell rang. Kelly stood up and dashed out of the door with her backpack and duffel bag bouncing off her, so did Linda. Sam and John blinked, and the two girls seemed to vanish before the flood of students struggled to get out of the single door.

John ignored Sam's comment, and walked with him into the hallway.

* * *

**Disclaimers: Don't own Halo.** I only own my OCs (here, it's Dr. Martinez)

**AN:** Please let me know if anyone is obviously out of character and what you thought. I know this is a little shorter, I'm also starting to get writer's block. I'm open to ideas on what to write next (if it fits where I'm going, I'll accept it and give you credit at the end of the chapters that are involved).

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Have a great day/evening


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**1500 hours, 20 October 2529 (Standard Calendar) / Starbucks on Augustus Street **

Kelly flipped her blue hair over to pull it back into a ponytail and slip on her green Starbucks cap. She exhaled and bounced on the balls of her feet before she checked the coffee brewer. Kelly saw Linda pull her bright red hair through the back of her green cap and walk up to the cash register.

"So, you working with John on the history paper?" Kelly asked aloud, side glancing at Linda.

"Yeah," Linda replied, checking the amount of money in the drawer quickly before closing it.

"Just warning you," Kelly said, pouring in grinds of coffee, "You might have to do most of the research and writing." She saw Linda nod her head; Kelly shrugged and pressed the On button to brew coffee.

Around this time, the Starbucks on Augustus Street would see a wave of high school and junior high students come in; the High Shift, they jokingly call it. The first wave of the High Shift started at 15:07, roughly the time it takes from Nova to Starbucks. The wave gathers in a chatter and laughs erupted before they actually look at the menu and have the "what are you getting?" conversation.

A girl, staring at the menu, walks over to counter and says, "Um…"

Linda's favorite customer. "Welcome to Starbucks," she greets.

"Yeah…" the girl said. From Linda's judgement, a sophomore. "I'll have a grande caramel frapp with extra caramel and soy milk please." She spoke fast, but Linda managed to tap in the order with her. A second later, Linda repeats the order, the sophomore nods her head.

"Your total is 5.63," Linda says. The sophomore opens her pink wallet and pulls out a crisp five dollar bill and one dollar bill.

Kelly overheard the price and immediately pours in cool coffee into a bucket with ice filled up to the "Grande" line and blends the two. The loud blending of ice doesn't shock Kelly or Linda anymore, it was background noise to them. After working over the hot summer, Kelly could almost make frappuccinos with her eyes closed and still send them out within three minutes, a record time at that Starbucks.

"One caramel frapp, soy milk, extra caramel," Kelly calls out and places it on the counter. She saw the freckled sophomore smile and take the cold frapp. Kelly glanced at the group, another two girls. Kelly sighed, but reminded herself a group of three wasn't as bad as a party. She tilted her neck side to side, hearing a few cracks, before overhearing two more orders. '_Frapps, of course,' _she grumbled mentally as she poured in more ice into two different blending cups.

The High Wave died out toward 1700 hours, and the College Wave rolls in. Colleges students, some with drinks and snacks of their own, quietly walked in and settled in the leather chairs with their notes or laptop in their lap. It seemed like the high school students were replaced with college students, but it was actually quiet. No blender, no chatter, no laughter.

Kelly sighed out of relief when she saw 1700 on the digital clock and stretched her hands over her head. She had one more hour before her shift was over, and this was the dead and quiet shift to her.

"Can you put in a latte for me?" Kelly asked Linda as she brew a fresh pot of coffee to maybe encourage the college students to buy coffee but mainly for her latte. Linda nodded and tapped the screen for a latte with a fifty percent discount. A smile grew on Kelly's face, and she glanced around the cafe for potential customers before she spun on her heel to make her own latte. Before she reached for soy milk, she jerked her head back at the glass door.

* * *

**Disclaimers: Don't own Halo.** I only own my OCs

**AN:** Please let me know if anyone is obviously out of character and what you thought. This is a bit short, but I wrote a piece and just cut it in half for suspense. Muahahaha.

My writing for NaNoWriMo isn't that great, but I'm writing a bunch of different things and I really like it. :3 Like right now, I had two weird dreams that have potential, a Pokemon fanfic (will probably be fluff and just random stuff), and a mix between lore for my own writing and the core of what I thought of.

Yeah, it's a lot. But it keeps me interested, for some reason. (I just had coffee, so I'm a little hyper.)

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Have a great day/evening


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**1713 hours, 20 October 2529 (Standard Calendar) / Starbucks on Augustus Street**

Sam and John were on the other side, too busy talking to each other to open the door. She cursed under her breath with narrowed eyes before she spun to have her back towards them. '_They'll probably order something insanely specific,' _she thought, thinking of Sam more than John. But then she thought with a straightened posture, '_If they do, I'll just take my sweet ass time making my latte.'_

Sam and John's chatter killed the silence in the cafe. Kelly didn't flinch to see the two, but Linda peered over the counter and saw them; the college students looked over their laptops and books as well. The two tall seniors didn't seem to care that they were disrupting the silent hour. They both chuckled before they looked up and saw the menu, but Sam immediately walked to the cash register. His eyebrows shot up with shock, but his surprise face quickly changed to a soft smile.

"Welcome to Starbucks," Linda greeted as if she had never seen Sam before. John turned his head and saw the redhead on the other side of the cash register standing relatively straight.

"Hello, stranger," he joked with a grin. "I'd like a -" He saw a feminine blue haired worker behind the red haired worker. He smirked and leaned on his elbows against the counter "A venti _light_ cinnamon dolce -" He pronounces dolce literally. " - frappucino with soy milk. Make it extra soy milk. And extra whip cream. And do you think I can have an extra shot of coffee? Oh, and cinnamon too."

Linda pursed her lips to the side and blinked. She glanced at the monitor in front of her and sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "We ran ingredients for the cinnamon dolce frapp. Would you like a regular venti coffee with extra cinnamon instead?"

Sam's face lost its humor. "Uh," he said, glancing down at his elbows and nods his head.

Linda taps the monitor. "Anything else?"

"Nah, that's it," Sam replied, standing up straight.

"11.36 is your total," Linda says, tapping on the monitor while biting her lower lip.

Kelly side glanced at Linda when she heard that and saw that Linda was trying not to laugh, and Sam with confusion on his face when he squints his eyes at the price. Kelly's eyes shot wide open when it clicked in her head: she made Sam pay for both of their drinks. And Linda gave her an open window to get revenge on the drink Sam originally ordered.

John took a long step towards the counter once Sam swiped his card and stepped off to the side, thinking way too hard on the price. "I didn't know you worked here."

Linda shrugged. "Now you do."

John looked up at the menu. "What's good?"

Linda blinked before shrugging. "I usually get tea." She leans over the counter slightly to whisper, "And if I were you, I'd ask for something cold."

John cocked an eyebrow out of confusion before looking back up at the menu. "Mocha has chocolate, right?" Linda nodded. "How do the sizes work, again?"

Linda giggled. "Grande is usually what people get."

John nodded his head before he looked at the redhead cashier. "I'll take -" His face scrunched up in confusion. "Uh… A _grande_..?" Linda nods her head with a grin, John smiled at her confirmation. "A grande iced black tea."

"Anything else?" she asks as she taps his order. He declines. "Your total is 3.43."

John pulls out four wrinkled dollar bills and hands them to Linda. The cash register _dings_ and the drawer popped open. Her fingers swiped up a few coins, but John steps back from the counter. "Just put the change in the Tip Jar for me."

Linda looked up blankly at John as he spun on his heel and faced Sam. She looked at the Tip Jar that wasn't even a fifth of the way full and dropped the coins in. Kelly perked her head up when she heard the clatter of the coins.

"We got a tip?" she asked with shock after she jerked her head towards Linda.

"Yeah," Linda replies, "From John."

Kelly rolled her eyes; _Pity money, probably. _But extra money was always accepted. Kelly took one more gulp of her latte before she heated the coffee super hot for Sam. At the same time, she poured ice and tea into a grande plastic cup. She set it on the Out Counter before she poured in the hot coffee into a venti cardboard cup. Her heart pounded slightly harder when she felt the heat radiate out instantly; instinctively, she slipped on the cardboard sleeve. A sprinkle of cinnamon, a splash of soy milk, and a squirt of whipped cream with another sprinkle of cinnamon, and Kelly was done.

"Sam and John," Kelly called out. The two boys turned their heads and saw the third musketeer of their group.

"Well, I guess everybody works here," Sam said, obviously pretending that he didn't see Kelly as he walked in. He and John both walked towards the counter. "When do you get off?"

Kelly looked up at the digital clock. "About thirty more minutes."

"Do you two have to close?" Sam asked, reaching for his cardboard cup full of coffee. His hand flinched back when he felt the heat.

"Nah," Kelly said, shaking her head slightly, "There's one more shift after us."

Speak of the devil, a short man with a dark peach fuzz all along his sharp jaw walks behind the counter towards the two workers. He sees Linda and Kelly, hands them a check, smiles, and walks off. Their manager was a quiet and busy man.

"I guess we're done then," Kelly said to Linda, looking at the check. Linda shrugs before taking off her apron.

"Are you working tomorrow morning?" Linda asks.

Kelly looked at her funny. "I don't think so." Her face fell serious. "Are you?" When Linda nodded her head, Kelly looked at her with wide eyes filled with sympathy. Linda giggled before walking around the pastry display. "Good luck tomorrow!"

Linda waved at Kelly and the guys, before pushing the door open. Car lights flashed as soon as the door closed, and they all watched Linda hop in her car and drive off. Kelly took off her green hat with a sigh, "She has the right mentality."

"No, Kelly," Sam begged. "Hang out with us."

Kelly's shoulders dropped. "But I'm tired. What about tomorrow?" Sam whined like a little kid, with laughter afterwards when he saw Kelly drop her head and shake it with disappointment.

* * *

**Disclaimers: Don't own Halo.** I only own my OCs

**AN:** Wow, it felt like forever. Please let me know if anyone is obviously out of character and what you thought.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Have a great day/evening


End file.
